Chapter 2

You have entered a World Gate.

Selecting trial…

Match found.

Task: Claim the head of a Royal Demon.

The first thing Zane noticed was the breeze.

It felt… nice. Strangely calm.

For a moment, he kept his eyes shut. Not out of fear—he already knew the truth. He could feel it in his bones, in the weightless rush of air around him.

He was falling. Fast.

No, scratch that. He was free-falling into a completely different world.

Great.

With a resigned sigh, he finally opened his eyes.

'Just my luck.'

A building was rushing up to meet him.

BOOOOOM!

The impact shattered the structure beneath him, sending a shockwave of dust and debris through the air. The poor building hadn't done anything to deserve that kind of abuse, but here they were.

Zane lay motionless in the rubble, staring blankly at the swirling dust above.

He couldn't feel anything. Not his arms, not his legs. Probably a good thing. If he could, he'd be in a world of pain right now.

He also couldn't see.

'Shit. Did I pop my own eyes on impact? Or did something pierce them?'

His thoughts were slowing. His mind drifted back to his life—what little of it there was to remember.

His parents, dead beyond the settlement walls. A common fate. People left to scavenge for food and never came back. Simple as that.

He and his sister had been thrown out of their home soon after. He had grown up fast, learned to steal, learned to fight, learned to kill. It was the only way to survive. But he got lucky. His sister had stayed out of trouble, despite her beauty—because in their world, being attractive without strength was a sin.

She had been his whole life.

Everything he did, everything he fought for, had been for her. Becoming a soldier. Stealing as a kid. Even breaking up with his girlfriend after one too many fights about how much he prioritized his sister.

And now?

She was alone.

Would she survive without him?

He wasn't the praying type, but for once, he hoped—**if there was a God, if there were any Gods at all—**that they would have mercy on her.

Warmth.

A strange, unfamiliar warmth suddenly wrapped around him.

'God?'

His vision returned. And no, it wasn't God.

More like a Goddess.

A woman knelt beside him, framed by the destruction around them. She was beautiful in a way that didn't seem real. Long, oily black hair. A face so flawlessly sculpted it looked like a divine craftsman had taken their time perfecting every detail.

But her eyes—those were something else.

Glowing red pupils, slitted like a cat's. Strange. Mesmerizing. The contrast only made her more beautiful.

His body felt… whole. No burns. No broken bones. Not even a scratch.

'A healer? And a powerful one at that?'

Maybe fate was finally cutting him some slack.

Before he could speak, she stood. With an elegant motion, she raised a hand—and a swirling portal materialized behind her.

Zane tried to sit up, but his body still wasn't responding properly.

The woman glanced at him one last time. Then, without a word, she stepped through the portal—and vanished.

'Wait—what?'

A cold sense of unease crawled over him.

His eyes darted to his surroundings for the first time.

Chaos.

The remnants of battle lay all around him—fire-scorched ground, patches of frozen water, deep scars in the earth. He had crashed straight into something big.

And then, he noticed them.

A group of figures stepped into view, materializing out of thin air like ghosts.

They all wore black leather, their outfits blending together in a matching, eerie aesthetic. Black tattoos crawled across their bodies—intricate, swirling patterns that stopped just before their faces.

Every single one of them was armed.

Zane didn't need anyone to explain what this meant.

He'd been on battlefields long enough to know when he had just fucked up.

And right now?

These people looked pissed.

Zane slowly raised his hands. "Uhh… would you guys believe me if I told you this was a complete accident?"

One of them stepped forward.

A man with striking blonde hair—too handsome for his own good, really.

Zane instinctively marked him as the leader.

The guy didn't say a word. Just cracked his knuckles.

"Tell it to Alaric."

Then, he punched Zane so hard the world went black.